Little Turtle Lost
by engelina
Summary: One of the turtles gets lost as a child. Will he ever be found, and will he re-join his family? First story from my little Turtle series.
1. Chapter 1

**Little Turtle Lost**

_Disclaimer: nope… don't own them. Only the idea for this story is mine. _

_Authors note: the turtles are five years old, in the beginning of this story. This story is based on the new cartoon. Also, again many thanks go to my beta, who is a great help for me.  
_

It had rained for days on end and most of the sewer was flooded. Splinter had warned them to stay in the lair because of it. But, after two days, he had to go and scavenge.

"I will not be gone long...Leonardo is in charge while I am away and you are to stay in the lair!" Splinter said to the four small turtles that stood before him. When the four nodded, Splinter smiled and picked up his bag. After a final hug from all four, he left the lair to go and look for some much needed supplies.

While he traveled to his favorite spot to forage, which always had some useful things, he noticed in some parts of the sewers the water was higher than normal, and so splinter decided to hurry. Fearing the heavy rain topside would cause the water to rise higher in the tunnels, he decided to hurry

When his father had left the lair, Mike raced to the couch to watch TV, followed by Raph. Leo sat down to continue the puzzle he had been working on, while Don picked up the book he had been reading, sitting down to finally find out how the story would end

Splinter had been gone for a while, when the four noticed that the normal noise of rushing water had increased. Leo looked towards the door and saw that the water had started streaming into the lair from under the door, and while he watched, it began flowing faster and faster! Leo stepped back. Behind him, he heard his brothers do the same.

Mike looked at the water, now flowing faster and faster into their house. "Leo, what do we do?" he asked, while stepping back a bit more.

Leo swallowed, and looked around, hoping to find a solution, or even better, to see their father return to solve the problem.

After a few minutes, he only had one answer, "I…I don't know, Mike!"

The water started flowing into their lair with increasing speed, completely covering the floor. The four climbed onto the couch and huddled together, clinging to each other, and hoping that their father would return quick or that the water would stop and disappear again.

Suddenly, the door creaked from the pressure of all the water pushing against it on the other side. After a few scary minutes, the door gave way and, now, more water rushed inside, taking everything and everyone with it into the sewers. The only thing the four small turtles could do, while the water swept them away, was hold to onto each other.

In another part of the sewer system, Splinter had searched as quickly as he could for the things he needed. Now, he hurried to return to his sons, moving as fast as possible, but he had to take several detours since the tunnels seemed flooded with water caused by the rain above. Because of this, Splinter started traveling faster, fearing for the safety of his sons, and the closer he got to the lair, the worse the flooding seemed to be. Then he found the reason as to why the water was so deep. A tunnel had collapsed, blocking the normal route for the water, and now the water was going in another direction, straight into the tunnel leading to their home!

Splinter dropped the bag and, with a lot of luck, managed to make his way to the other side of the tunnel. He had almost reached their home, when his sharp ears heard the faint cries of his sons. He ran as fast as he could in the direction of the sound, hoping that he would find them in time, and unharmed.

While Splinter was trying to reach his sons, the four turtles could only cling to each other, hoping that they would survive. Donnie clung to Raph's carapace and he noticed that the others were holding on to each other too. Every now and then, something bumped into them. When Donnie tried to get a better hold on his brother's shell, the four of them bumped into a wall separating two tunnels. He suddenly lost his grip! When he tried to yell, to get his brother's attention, a big piece of trash hit him, almost knocking him out. The impact forced him into the other tunnel, thereby separating him from the other three.

Raph didn't notice that the hands on his carapace were suddenly gone, because he was too busy holding on to Mike and Leo. And they were too busy holding onto him and to each other to notice that Donnie was missing. The cold water was slowing their reactions and when the three of them finally hit a grid, meant to filter out the big debris, they were exhausted.

Splinter had reached the junction just in time to see three of his sons floating into the left tunnel, but he was too late too have seen the fourth one floating into the right tunnel. Consequently, he rushed after the three young turtles and reached the grate shortly after they had hit it. He leaned over and tried to reach them, but the first few times all he grabbed was air.

Then, suddenly, his fingers brushed along the edge of a carapace. While risking falling in himself, Splinter fished Michelangelo out of the water. He put his son on the ledge and then leaned back over the water to grab one of the others. When he pulled the second one out, which was Raphael, he noticed that he could only see one more. After he had Leo out, too, he thoroughly checked the mass of debris stuck in the grid, partly falling into the water himself, to make sure the fourth one was not there, stuck in the mess.

As soon as he was on the ledge Leo had crawled over to Mike and Raph, and the three curled up together, shivering and exhausted. He saw their father search for Donnie and wondered why it took so long to find him. Next to him, Mike started to close his eyes and he saw the confusion mixed with exhaustion on Raph's face.

When Splinter stopped looking, but continued to stare at the water, with a soft voice, Leo asked, "Master Splinter, where is Donnie?"

Next to him, Mike opened his eyes again and heard Raph repeat Leonardo's question.

Splinter looked at his three sons and for the first time, they asked something he really could not answer. No matter how much he wanted to know the answer himself, he could not figure out where Donatello was. He finally realized that his fourth son had become separated from the others somewhere between the lair and the grate. Splinter also saw that no matter how much he wanted to, he could not go and search for his purple wearing son, at least not immediately. The other three were beyond tired and shivering from the cold. They would need to taken somewhere safe and warm, but he was torn. Splinter also wanted to look for his missing son.

As Splinter led his three remaining sons through the tunnels, Mike followed the rest of his family, but he kept looking behind him to the fast moving water. His father had not answered the question Leo and Raph had asked, but had looked very sad. He kept hoping his fourth brother would run up to them and would be completely fine.

At one point, where the tunnel had dropped down from another above it Splinter lifted him and the other two into the higher tunnel, and then climbed up himself. Mike again followed, still wondering about where they would be going, and about where Donnie was.

Splinter brought the three boys to a place he had found a few weeks earlier and, after making sure it was safe and dry, he left them there to get a few blankets. While he hated stealing, this time he did not have the time to try to find any left-behind blankets. The grey furred rat did what he needed to do, even if he did not like it at all. He quickly returned to his sons and, after making sure they were warm and dry, he pulled them close to him, and carefully told them that it could take some time before Donnie would return to them. He knew the chance of finding his missing son was very small, but he did not want the others to know just how small that chance was.

It had been two weeks since they had almost drowned. Every time that Splinter would go out in search of Donnie, or scavenge for much needed supplies for the new lair, Leo couldn't help but stare at the door. And, every time his father would return home, Leo hoped that Master Splinter had found Donnie. But time and again, his father would return to the lair alone. Leo began wondering if Donnie would ever return to them, or if his purple bandanna-wearing brother was gone forever.

A few days later, Splinter told the other three that he would stop searching, that Donatello would not be returning to them. That was the day his other sons went outside the lair, following their father, to try to find their missing brother, and had almost gotten lost themselves.

Splinter stopped searching because it had almost cost his other sons their lives. Yet, every now and then while he went scavenging, the rat would take a small detour, hoping against all odds that he would find some trace of his missing son. And every time he did, he would come up empty.

Still, Master Splinter knew his other sons never forgot their brother. There were small telltale signs that told him as much, such as the small present he found under Mike's bed, shortly after his and his other two brothers**'** sixth birthday. The package was marked with purple. And, then, there were the other things that his other sons kept doing, even years after Donatello disappeared.

TBC.

_reviews would be very appreciated by me. so, whether you liked this story or not, please tell me!_


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

_Authors note: From here on, the story will become AU, but still based on the new toon. Also there are a few parts from one of the episodes in this chapter. Italics are flashbacks. And a very big thank you to my beta! _

_I apologize for the long wait between updates. A combination of writers blocks, and real live were to blame. _

**10 years after Donatello disappeared:**

Leo sighed, while looking at April, who was trying to figure out their latest riddle. When they had moved to their current lair, there had been some weird crystals on the ground near one of the walls and while cleaning they had put them on a shelf. In the weeks that followed, they had forgotten all about them. About an hour ago, Mike had accidentally knocked against the shelf, while he was teasing Raph, and two had rolled off the shelf, and against each other. The resulting sound and light had alerted all of them, and now April was trying to figure out what the reason for the strange occurrence was.

Leo smiled when remembering how they had met her…

_The mousers had invaded their home, forcing the small family of three turtles and one rat to move. He and Raph had been picking up the last bit of their things, when they heard the scream. _

"_Let's go check __that out" he said,__ while putting down the box he was carrying. _

_Raph nodded and after his brother had also, he put down what he was carrying, and then the two went into the tunnel. __That was when they heard a second yell, a female's voice echoing through the tunnels. The two turtles ran and found a red-haired female trying to fend off some robots. They were the same type of robots that had destroyed their lair a few days before and had forced them to move. The fight was short and, upon seeing them, the girl fainted. They had taken her home with them and that had been the start of their friendship with April. _

_Then, April__ told them who had made the mousers and together they made sure those mousers would not attack them again. _

Leo was glad they had met her

When he heard the door open, Leo turned around and saw Casey come in. He grinned, remembering how he and his brothers had met the human vigilante years ago, when they still were kids. Somehow, they had become friends, and since then, Casey had visited often.

Casey looked around and then walked towards where the others were. "Hey, guys! On the way here, I noticed the strangest thing. There was a hole, melted in then wall! And some weird footprints too! Come, I'll show ya!"

A bit later Casey had led them to the place and pointed out the footprints and the hole in the wall.

"Whatever it was, it tunneled right through the cement." Raph said, while looking at the hole. When he turned to look at the footprints, he saw something move at the end of the tunnel.

When Leo turned his head, he also saw something move.

For a brief moment, a pair of eyes glared at them in the dark, before disappearing. Leo knew he had not imagined it. Mike chose that moment to start panicking and he yelled something about movies and monsters. Leo shook his head, wondering not for the first time why Mike kept watching those movies.

When they returned back home, Leo told their Sensei what they had seen.

Splinter thought for a moment and then looked at his sons, "Maybe you should go and investigate the tunnel, my sons," and Splinter smiled when he received two positive reactions with a not so positive from his youngest.

Mike looked in panic at his two brothers, "Umm... Someone has to stay with Sensei and April! I'll do that while you two and Casey investigate that tunnel." Mike looked from one to the other, hoping that they believed him, and would let him stay at home.

Raph grabbed a bag, and walked towards his brother "Yer not gettin' off that easy." He said, while shoving the bag into mike's hands.

Casey went topside for a moment to pick up some extra things and a few hours later the three turtles and their human friend left to investigate the tunnel.

The route via the melted hole in the wall led the small group into some old, abandoned subway tunnels. When they walked into the dark tunnel some dust crumbled down on them, warning them that these tunnels were unstable. Carefully and as quietly as they could, the four continued their investigation, although Mike was still very reluctant. At one point, the falling dust caused Mike to sneeze, and that was the first time when they saw the monster. The big, rock like monster roared when seeing them, causing the tunnel to collapse. They ran and barely escaped the collapsing tunnel.

After getting up, Leonardo picked up his flashlight, and shone into the next tunnel. Because the route back was blocked, they only had one choice, and that was to follow the tunnels, deeper into the earth.

After hours of traveling and descending through a few steep passages, Casey finally collapsed on the ground. "I can't walk another step!" he said, sounding out of breath. He looked at Leo, who agreed with him.

Leo nodded, "Let's make camp." and then turned to Raph. "You up for the first watch?" He smiled when he saw his red-wearing brother twirl his sai.

"You know me!" Raph answered, while looking back at Leo.

A bit later, Raph was trying to stay alert, while the others slept. He looked briefly at Mike, who was mumbling softly in his sleep. He glanced around and then heard a noise above him. When he saw the source of the noise, he immediately woke the others up, shouting "Wake up, it's that monster again!" Raph grabbed his sai, while the others jumped up, and also grabbed their weapons.

Leonardo looked up, and saw the monster cause a rock-slide. He yelled to the others to get out of there, and after a few minutes of running and jumping over scattered debris, the small group stood in front of two doors, which looked like they had been bashed open from the inside out.

The four slowly walked into the room beyond, leaving their backpacks near the door. They had only walked a few feet, when they realized this was some kind of old, forgotten lab. The lab had several dust covered machines in it, and most of them looked like something from the lab of a mad scientist. Mike slowly walked forward, looking around, but not looking where he put his feet. Leo saw him step into the beam, but was too late to stop him. When the alarm sounded, three annoyed people turned to Mike, but before any of them could say something, a force field began to expand from the center of the room, slowly advancing towards them.

As the force field came closer is seemed to press against Casey and the three turtles, pushing them away from the door and the middle of the room, and towards the wall. Before they would completely be flattened, Raph tossed one of his sai at the machine, hitting it and damaging it enough to shut it down. It was then a video log started playing, telling the four what the underground lab had been used for. They watched the footage, which turned out to be a bit horrifying. Mike started shaking more and more from fear, because he remembered several horror movies and none of them ended well.

When the video diary ended, they heard something growl nearby.

Mike yelped and clung to Leo, shivering. "So, there's always one guy in a monster movie who freaks out because he can't take the pressure. And I am going to do an impression of him right now and it goes something like this - Get me out of here!" The panicky turtle then released Leo and ran to the door.

Raph watched his brother run and then turned to Leo. "Not that I ever agree with him but he has a point."

Leo nodded in agreement and then the four travelers grabbed their bags, and started to walk to the exit of the lab. Mike was still shivering and looking around nervously. They had almost reached the exit, when they saw that the wall next to the entrance melted and a hole was formed in the wall three monsters came out, growling at them, and blocking the way out in the process.

Raph recognized one of them as the rock monster which had caused the cave in and the rock slide earlier, but he was sure he had not seen the other two before. One was red and bulky, the other one was blue, and had a slim build But before they could grab their weapons, one of the monsters raised his hand to stop the other two from attacking.

Then, much to their surprise, the blue-skinned monster spoke "You three look just like the other one!"

Leo, who still had his hands on the hilt of his katana, looked at the monsters, surprised. "Wait, the other one? What other one?"

Behind him, the others were still ready to defend themselves if necessary, but they quickly realized that the monsters were no treat.

"There is another who looks just like you. Come, I will show you."

After gesturing to Leo and the others to follow him, the blue monster then walked to a far corner of the lab. There, in a giant capsule and floating in some yellowish fluid was a small, olive green turtle.

TBC.


	3. Chapter 3

_I still do not own the TMNT. Not even a little part of them. and a very big thank you goes to my beta! italics in the story are thougths.  
_

**Chapter 3 **

Raph stared at the capsule, and the small turtle floating in it. "He's still a child…." Raph put one hand against the capsule carefully. Behind him, Quarry was telling what he knew about the child.

"I found an old logbook, in which I read a description on how one of the scientists found the child in a storm drain more dead than alive. They did some experiments on him, mainly taking blood samples to find out how he was mutated. They used that knowledge to develop the serum they used to transform me and the others into what we are now." Quarry sighed, and gestured to the capsule "The child was put in stasis when they started on creating us, partly because the boy was very weak at the time. I am not sure if there were further plans for the child. If there were, then they never got the order."

Casey looked wide-eyed at the capsule. He had known there was a fourth turtle. The day he had met Leo, Raph and Mike, they had been looking for their missing sibling. That was almost ten years ago. He had been only a kid himself and the four of them had ended up in a lot of trouble. And now, he saw the fourth turtle with his own two eyes. He turned around and looked at his friends, while pointing to the capsule "...how do we get the kid out of that contraption?"

Quarry had been watching the reactions of the three after his previous explanation and now looked at the only human of the group, "I tried that once, quite some time ago. But the machine needs a large amount of power, and this place cannot provide that." Above them, the light flickered a few times. "There might be a way, but…." He looked at his feet nervously for a moment, before continuing. "There is a city, deep under the earth, deeper than the lab. You might find some power crystals there, strong enough to use to operate the machine."

When he heard the word crystals, the turtle with the blue bandana looked at the others. _Could it be the same crystals as they had found in their home?_ "Did anyone pack those weird crystals?" Mike and Casey shook their heads, but Raph walked to his bag and after some digging through it, he fished out the two crystals, and then walked back to Leonardo. The katana-wearing turtle looked at Quarry. "Do you mean crystals like these?"

Quarry took the crystals and examined them. After a while, He shook his head. "These are the same type of crystals, but I am afraid that they are too weak to power the machine."

After some talking, they came to the conclusion that there was no other choice than to go to the underground city. It was also decided that their human friend would stay behind and protect the capsule with the small turtle in it. When the others had left, Casey sat down against a wall near the capsule. He looked at the child inside, while his hands were idly playing with the handle of one of his hockey sticks. "So you're the one they were searching for ten years ago…" he sighed, and remembered that day, when he had met the other three turtles for the first time.

Casey jumped up when he heard someone near the lab. It had been almost a day since the others had left. He stood there ready to attack, but lowered his hockey stick when he saw who it was. Leo and the other two turtles walked into the lab, but the monsters were no longer with them. "What happened? Where are those monsters? Did you get the crystals?"

Leonardo stopped Casey before the vigilante could ask more questions, and then answered him.. "Yes, we have the crystals for the machine. As for what happened, it's a long story, Casey." Leo then told Casey what had happened, how they had traveled to the underground city, how they were attacked there by an unknown entity, and how in the end, they has used the entity's own powers against him.

Raph walked towards the machine and, following the notes he had gotten from Quarry, made the necessary adjustments. There was a lot he had to change so the machine could use the crystals as a power source, and that made the progress slow. Behind him, he heard Leo tell Casey what happened, while he, with a little help from Mike, started adapting the machine. By the time Leo finished telling Casey about their adventures, Raph finished the last rewiring. "Let's hope this really works…." Raph said, while pulling the handle to turn on the machine. Slowly, the machine came to live, and the slow process of waking Donnie back up began.

Leonardo stood there and watched, as the machine did its work. Quarry had told them that after the machine was done, it would still take a while before Donnie would finally be completely awake. And that the boy would be groggy and feeling sick during the process of waking up, which was a result of the ten years he had spent in stasis.

Finally after what felt like hours, the yellowish fluid was drained off, and Donatello slowly sunk to the bottom of the capsule. A bit later, the capsule opened, indicating that the procedure had ended, and the blue bandana-wearing turtle carefully stepped forward to pick the child up.

Casey watched, as Leonardo held the child against him. Raph and Mike found some rags and they carefully started cleaning the boy, wiping the liquid off him. Casey looked over Leo's shoulder, curious, "Will he really be alight, Leo?"

Leonardo did not look up, never taking his eyes of Donnie, "He should be Casey, he should be." As soon as they had Donnie cleaned up, all of them agreed that they did not want Donatello to wake up here, in this dark lab. They silently gathered the things they would need for their return trip home, leaving behind anything that was not essential

They had traveled for almost a day, when Donnie moved. Raph, who was carrying the child at that moment, stopped. Before he could say anything, the small turtle started coughing, and Raph began to move the boy a bit more upright position against his shoulder, when Donnie coughed out a few mouthfuls of the yellowish liquid. Raph pulled a face for a moment, but also made sure that Donnie would not choke on what he coughed up.

Leo put down the bag he carried. "We better find something to clean you and Donnie up, Raph." He said, while grabbing a few rags they had brought along.

Raph slowly sat down on the ground, while still holding Donnie, and took one of the rags from Leo "thanks, Leo. " Then he started to clean himself and Donnie up with some help from his brothers. In the half hour that followed, Donatello coughed up more fluid, but now the brothers were more aware of it, and they made sure to keep the child as comfortable as possible.

After resting for an hour or so, and making sure Donnie was going to be alright while they would resume their way home, the four picked up their things, and slowly continued the journey home. Mike was walking behind the others, and he saw that Donnie, who was being carried by Leo again, stirred every now and then but so far, there were no signs that the child would open his eyes.

The rest of the journey was uneventful, and took them longer then the way to the lab because the four were careful during the few climbs they had to do in order to get back home. Every now and then the child would move, but he did not wake up, at all. The three turtles and their human friend silently walked into the lair. Raphael, who was carrying Donnie, waited near the door, while Leonardo was the first to enter, so he could explain to splinter what had happened, and who they had found again, after all those years. Raph looked at the child, who was still asleep. He slowly walked into their home when mike called him

Splinter gasped softly. Even though Leonardo had prepared him, it still was a bit of a shock to see the son, he has thought dead for ten years. He slowly approached Raphael, almost fearing that this was a dream, and that he would wake up any second, in his room, and find that is was a dream. Only when he slowly brushed his hand over the child's cheek, he realized that what he was seeing was real, and that finally his fourth son has returned home.

Raphael gently handed Donatello to his father, and watched when his father gently hugged the boy. "We are worried about his fever, sensei" He told his father.

Splinter gently cradled the boy in his arms, and walked to his bedroom. "I better make something **for** that fever, and then we will have to wait, until he wakes up."

Casey watched, as Splinter and the three teens walked into Splinter's room, while he waited in the main room. He hoped the boy would awake soon. For now, all he could do was wait. He sat down on the couch, and eventually dozed off. It had been a long trip from a few days there and back, and he was very tired. The next thing he knew was Mike shaking him awake, and repeating his name a few times, until Casey opened his eyes.

"Hey, Case-man, wake up!"

Casey blinked a few times, and looked in Mike's smiling face "Uh.." he yawned "how's the kid?"

"Donnie just woke up. He recognized us all." Mike told Casey while pulling the vigilante off the couch, and towards the room. "And now you got to meet him!"

Casey blinked himself awake a bit more. "Wait! Won't the kid panic or something when seeing a human? I mean you guys only met me after he disappeared!" Casey bumped into Mike's carapace when the turtle suddenly halted by the door of splinter's room. He did not get much of a chance to see if there was more damage then his sore nose, because Mike pulled him into the room. Splinters room was a lot less bright then the main room had been, so it took a few minutes before his eyes adjusted. Donnie sat on Splinters lap, curled against his father, and was looking at him shyly, but there also was a small tingle of curiosity. "Err… hi. Name's Casey Jones..." He somehow managed to say, while waving. The child smiled back shyly, and then hid his face in splinters robes.

_I held my now youngest son against me, and softly rubbed the boy's shell. It would take time for all of us to get used to the new situation. My other sons were not used to have a younger child around, and Donnie still remembered being taken to that awful lab, and the things they did with him there_Splinter looked up, when he heard Casey excuse himself, and leave to go home. He kept stroking the boy, up to the point where the child had fallen asleep again. After holding the child for a while, looking at the sleeping boy, he noticed that his sons one by one retreated, slowly and reluctantly to go to their own rooms, and go to sleep, because they were tired from the long journey to the lab and back. When he was alone splinter softly put the boy on his futon, and after one more brush along the boy's cheek, he left the room. He would return later, after some tea, and a long silent thanks to whatever deity who may have helped protecting the child those ten years.

When he returned to his room, some time later, the smiled softly, and looked at the scene in front of him. His now youngest son was no longer alone in the room. His futon had been moved away from the wall, and his other sons were curled around the small child. Leonardo was sleeping on his back, with Donatello sleeping on top of him, and Raphael and Michelangelo on the left and right of them, both with an arm slung over the small turtle. He silently closed the door behind him, and sat down on the ground, watching his four sons sleep

End of this story.

_**Reviews are very, very much appreciated by me, so if you have the time, please leave one.  
**_


End file.
